


For the Weekend

by delicatelyglitterywriter



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Fluff, Gen, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-09-30 09:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10160339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delicatelyglitterywriter/pseuds/delicatelyglitterywriter
Summary: It's a cooperative effort from the orphanage and the community to give orphans a family for the weekend at a family camp. This is the story of little orphan Daisy's family for the weekend





	

**Author's Note:**

> Also titled: The Story that Just Wouldn't Quit (I originally intended for this to be a lot shorter)
> 
>  **Content warnings:** Bullying and racism.

 “Melinda.”

That’s the first word spoken to her when Daisy meets her. She’s short and Chinese, and isn’t smiling. Daisy is immediately scared of her.

“I-I’m Daisy.”

Melinda hums, giving her a once over. Daisy looks at her shoes. The seconds are excruciatingly long, and Daisy wishes the ground would open her up and swallow her. She feels incredibly small being stared down by this woman.

“I’ll take her.”

Daisy’s head shoots up at the words, and she looks over to Mr Thomas, the orphanage headmaster. Mr Thomas smiles and marks Daisy’s name off on the clipboard.

“Excellent. Daisy, go start packing.”

* * *

 

That’s the story of how Daisy met her mother for the weekend.

It was just for one weekend, because it was just for a camp. The new mayor of the town, Jeff, had proposed the idea that a community family camp should be run, in which orphanage children were assigned a family from the community, and they would all then go away for a weekend.

Daisy had been assigned to the Coulson family – a family of four. There was Phil and Melinda, the parents, and Jemma and Elena, the daughters.

Daisy liked Phil the second she met him. He had a bright smile, and he was funny and bright. She liked Jemma and Elena equally as much. Elena had immediately hugged her, and her mouth had begun running a hundred miles a minute, and Daisy was sure that a good 60% of it was in Spanish.

She was rescued when Jemma had stepped in, and stopped Elena from talking. She’d given Daisy a very formal greeting and introduction, although Daisy felt it was sincere. It was only when she had spied Melinda again that her smile had faltered, and she’d gone quiet again. If Jemma and Elena had noticed it, they didn’t say anything.

The drive up to the campsite had been noisy, with Jemma, Elena, and Phil chatting the whole way up. Daisy had tried to join in several times, but was silenced by glances from Melinda in the rear-view mirror. She wasn’t sure what the glances meant, but they scared her, so she chose to remain quiet.

The first time she’s able to get away from Melinda is when she goes down to the river. It’s peaceful there – it’s just her and the water, rippling along quietly. She sits down on the ramp leading down to it and hugs her knees to her chest, just staring at the water.

She startles when someone sits down next to her, but relaxes when she sees it’s just Jemma.

“It’s lovely, isn’t it?”

Daisy hums in agreement. The two sit in silence, a mutual understanding that nothing needs to be said. They simply enjoy each other’s company, and it’s enough. But there’s that one question that gnaws away at her the whole time, and eventually, she’s unable to contain it anymore.

“What’s up with your mom?”

“Pardon?”

“Your mom. What’s up with her? She never smiles and she’s really kinda scary and creepy.”

To her surprise, Jemma laughs. “I suppose she can come off as quite cold, can’t she?”

“No kidding,” Daisy mutters, staring down at her nails. Beside her, Jemma sighs and places a gentle hand on her back.

“She’s just got a bit of a rough exterior,” Jemma assures her. “But she’s one of the most tender and caring people I know. You’ll see.”

Daisy nods, but she doesn’t believe Jemma. How could a stiff mother ever be tender and caring?

* * *

 

The rest of the day is full of fun and outdoor activities. Daisy goes on the flying fox, showing off to Phil, Elena and Jemma that she can do it with no hands. She, Elena and Jemma complete the low ropes course together, competing against some of the other kids. She, Jemma, Elena and Phil pretend to warriors with their bow and arrows during archery. By the end of the day, they had found their way down to the river and spent a good hour just standing in it, skipping and throwing rocks in the water.

Melinda hadn’t joined them for a single activity. She’d merely stood off to the side, watching them. Daisy had purposefully chosen to ignore her – she wasn’t about to let Melinda ruin her fun. She’s successful the entire afternoon.

It’s at dinnertime that Daisy is forced to interact with Melinda again – if interact is even the right word. Melinda just sits quietly and eats her food, giving Daisy the occasional intense stare. For the most part, Daisy just puts her head down and eats her food in silence.

After dinner, they all partake in a series of games in the dining room. They are the yellow team, and Phil helps each of the girls loops the yellow strips of material across their shoulder to their hip and then around, as if they’re warriors.

It the first time Daisy actually feels like she’s part of a family, since, well, ages. It feels nice.

Melinda is the only one who doesn’t participate. It doesn’t surprise Daisy much; after all, why should a tight woman be involved in such activities? Besides, Phil, Jemma and Elena were more than competitive enough to make up for Melinda’s lack of participation.

However, Daisy notices that each time one of them goes up to compete, Melinda calls them aside and whispers something in their ear. This is often followed by a nod, and an incredibly well-played game from their team.

It’s for this very reason that Daisy hesitates to play. She doesn’t want Melinda whispering to her whatever murder stories she’s sharing with the others.

The next game to be played was a potato race, in which contestants had to push a potato along the ground from one tape line to the other. Daisy grins, thinking that Phil would look very funny doing it. But, it turns out that Phil has other ideas.

“Hey, Daisy, come on!” Phil encourages. “You go have a turn!”

Daisy hesitates.

“Yeah, Daisy!” Elena agrees. “If you’re part of our team, you’ve got to pull your weight!”

She refrains from mentioning that Melinda hasn’t exactly pulled her weight, feeling that it’s not something she should bring up. She risks a glance at Melinda, who looks at her expectantly. Somehow, it’s enough to get her to agree.

“Alright.”

The girls cheer and Phil grins and pats her on the back. Daisy and the others listen to the instructions, and then she straightens up and heads out as the room fills with chatter from the other teams. She’s pumped. She’s ready for this. She’s going to be amazing.

“Daisy.”

She freezes at the sound of Melinda’s voice, and turns her head. Melinda motions for her to come, which she does. She dares not refuse this woman (she dreads what consequences might arise if she did).

Melinda leans in close. “Use the side of your nose. Don’t lift your head until you’re over the line. Don’t focus on anything bu pushing the potato.”

Daisy pulls back and stares. Melinda raises her eyebrows.

“Go.”

A little bit confused, Daisy obeys, kneeling on all fours in front of her potato. She doesn’t have much time to ponder what Melinda meant, since the camp official began counting down. She decided just to follow Melinda’s instructions and she turned her body, ready to start.

The signal is given and Daisy focuses all her attention on pushing the potato as fast as she can. The rest of the room fades out – even the cheers of her honorary father and sisters turn to background noise.

As soon as she’s over the line, she raises her head, only for it to be forced back down as Jemma and Elena jumped on her in celebration.

“You won!” Elena screamed in her ear. Daisy doesn’t care that the scream hurt her ear; she won. She pushes Jemma and Elena off her and makes eye contact with Melinda. Melinda nods at her with the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.

Daisy could almost swear that Melinda was _proud_ of her. But that was silly wasn’t it? What robot could have feelings?

* * *

 

The next day, after team had shared their spoils from their win the evening before, Daisy came face to face with Joelle and her crew.

Joelle was the orphanage bully, and Daisy had learnt long ago that if she wanted to avoid tears and blood, she should avoid them. Which is why she turns to run as soon as she sees them. But she’s a tiny nine year old up against a gang of teenage girls, so she’s immediately grabbed up the back of her top and thrown against the side of the building.

“W-What do you want?” she asks, pushing backwards, as if the wall will open and give her an escape route. But, of course, there’s no such luck like that in real life; it only exists in the movies.

“Give us the candy you won.”

Daisy gulps. “I-I don’t have it. Phil said that he was holding onto it.”

Joelle scoffs. “As if you didn’t sneak a few out in your pocket. Hand them over.”

Daisy hesitates and Joelle narrows her eyes for a moment, before throwing her head back in laughter.

“Seriously, Daisy? You want to save them for _them_? As a _goodbye_ gift? They’re never gonna remember you after they dump you back at the orphanage! That’s the stupidest thing to think a stupid little sweet’ll make ‘em remember you.”

Daisy suddenly has trouble breathing. Deep down, she knows Joelle is right – Phil, Jemma and Elena probably _won’t_ remember her. But it’s nice to hope….right?

“I-I can at least hope!” Daisy defends herself. It’s weak, but she sounds a lot braver than she feels. Joelle laughs again, bending down to Daisy’s height.

“You just don’t get it, do you? None of us are remembered! None of us are good enough to be remembered! You, especially. A tiny, little, _Asian_ girl. Nobody’s gonna remember you. Give it up.”

Daisy feels like she’s been punched in the gut. Even her very blood wasn’t good enough. She feels like crying, and fights desperately to keep it back.

“Aww, did Joelle hurt wittle baby Daisy’s feewings?” Joelle mocks. The girls behind her laugh. “Pathetic. Hand over the candy.”

Tearfully, Daisy pulls the candy out and puts them in Joelle’s hand. Joelle closes her hand around the candy, like a crocodile snapping up its prey.

“That’s a good girl,” Joelle praises, as if she’s talking to a dog who just performed a trick. The girls laugh again and saunter off. Daisy sinks to the ground, the first tears spilling over the edge. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that they’d pick on her. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t get to hope.

She knows someone will see her if she stays here, and she can’t stand the thought of someone taking pity on her. She’s already weak enough; having someone taking pity on her would just be humiliating.

So she runs. She runs all the way to the top of the hill where she can hide behind the big oak and just let herself cry quietly. She cries, although she tries not to. After all, big girls don’t cry.

“Sometimes they do.”

She’s startled by the voice, and she’s even more surprised, and fearful, that it’s Melinda who said it. She hangs her head, ashamed to have been heard.

“May I come in?”

Daisy wants to say no, she wants to say that she wants to be left alone, but for some reason, she finds herself nodding. Quietly, Melinda sits down beside her, and puts a tender hand on her back. Instinctively, Daisy twists in for a hug. Melinda responds by hugging her.

“What happened?”

But Daisy is too busy crying to answer the question. So Melinda just hugs her, and rubs her gently, until she’s finished crying. When the crying eases up, Melinda asks again.

“Talk to me, Daisy.”

Daisy doesn’t want to, but she finds herself telling Melinda what happened.

“Sh-Sh-She made me give her my candy, a-and treated me like a dog, a-a-and called me weak because I’m small and Asian, a-and said that I was gonna be forgotten.”

“Who?”

Daisy stops suddenly at the anger in Melinda’s voice. Why should Melinda be angry about something that happened to her? It doesn’t make any sense, since Melinda was just going to forget about her anyway. She looks up, a bit confused.

“Who said those things?” Melinda repeats.

“Joelle. She’s the bully at the orphanage.”

“You don’t believe her, do you?” Melinda asks after examining Daisy for a moment. Daisy lowers her head again and shrugs.  Melinda sighs.

“Get up.”

Even though she’s a bit worn out from crying, Daisy does as she’s told. She also does as she’s told when Melinda gets her to stand in a certain way.

“What are we doing?” Daisy asks as Melinda adjusts her right foot.

“Teaching you to fight. Joelle has no right to call you a dog because of your size or ethnicity. Now, like this.”

“But why? I can easily outru-”

“No. As long as I’m looking after you, you learn to fight your own battles.”

Daisy accepts this and listens and copies as Melinda walks her through how to defend herself. The longer it goes on, the more Daisy realises that Melinda may not be as bad, or as emotionless as she’d originally judged.

Once Melinda seemed satisfied with Daisy, she took her hand and led her back down the hill for afternoon tea. Halfway down, Melinda spoke again.

“Don’t ever let Joelle mock you for being Asian ever again.”

Daisy kicks a stray rock, but doesn’t say anything. She can’t put into words what’s in her head, but Melinda seems to understand.

“Being Asian is not weak. Mulan. Lucy Liu. Bruce Lee. They’re all Asian. Would you call them weak?”

Daisy shakes her head immediately.

“Why not?”

“They’re all tough, and badass, and heroes.”

“Exactly. They’re warriors.”

Daisy says nothing as they complete their walk back down the hill. She ponders over what Melinda has just said. Does this mean she can be a warrior, too? She wants to ask this very question, but is kind of afraid of what Melinda will say. She’s still scared of the woman, despite what happened at the top of the hill.

But eventually, the question is too much to keep inside.

“Does that mean I can be a warrior, too?”

“As soon as you start believing in yourself,” Melinda answers with a nod. It’s at that very moment that they reach the dining room again, just in time for lunch.

Melinda lets go of her hand to go and do, well, whatever it was that she did. Daisy can’t help but smile a bit as she watches Melinda walk away. For an emotionless robot, Melinda was incredibly nice and caring.

 

For the rest of the afternoon, Daisy sits quietly by herself by the river. She’s working on gifts for Phil, Jemma, Elena, and Melinda. She’s making a paper crane for each of them. Each one is a different colour, based on what colour she thinks matches each person best.

As she works, she thinks about what Melinda said to her. She thinks about it long and hard, and when she’s done thinking, she decides that Melinda is right. She decides that she’s going to be a warrior, that she’s going to make Melinda proud (although she doesn’t know why she has such a strong desire to do so).

* * *

 

The next day, the camp comes to a close. Many of the children are in tears having to say goodbye to the people they got to call family for the weekend. Daisy is no exception. She doesn’t want to leave; she wishes she could stay here forever with them.

Jemma and Elena seem to feel the same way, because they won’t let go of her. Phil and Melinda are forced to pry them off so that Daisy can get on the bus. It’s at this moment that Daisy presents her gifts.

“I made these for you,” she says, giving each person their paper crane. “So that you can remember me.”

As each person receives theirs, they hug Daisy again. Melinda is the last to receive hers, and as they make the exchange, the laughter of Joelle and her crew could be heard once again. Daisy grits her teeth, angry at them. Couldn’t they just let her say goodbye in peace?

“Don’t be stupid, Daisy!” Joelle sneers. “They’re just going to throw those dumb paper things in the bin as soon as they get home! Give it up.”

She feels Melinda hold her tighter, and then begin to pull back. She looks up at her honorary mother, and Melinda nods. Daisy turns around to face her bully.

“What is your _problem_?” Daisy shouts, storming up to her. “What have I ever _done_ to you?”

Instead of answering her, Joelle slaps her. “Dogs don’t talk back.”

Holding her cheek, Daisy looks back, fury pulsing through her blood in time with her heart. “I’m not a dog.”

With that, she pulls her fist back and then sends it flying, whacking Joelle across the face. Joelle goes toppling over, and the kids hurry to gather around and watch the fight. When Joelle looks up, Daisy glares down.

“I’m a warrior.”

She turns and walks away, just like Melinda told her to, and walks right into Melinda’s arms again. Behind her, the camp officials and orphanage headmaster tried to gather up the children and get the orphans on the bus.

“Good girl,” Melinda murmurs in Daisy’s ear. Daisy smiles, recognising the pride in her voice. She turns and gives Melinda a kiss on her cheek.

“Daisy! On the bus!” Mr Thomas barks, and Daisy knew that she couldn’t dawdle any longer.

“I’m gonna miss you,” she whispers in Melinda’s ear.

“Us too.”

Daisy pulls away to get on the bus, but Melinda stops her one last time and presses something into her hand. Melinda then nods, and smiles in goodbye. It’s the only time Daisy’s seen her smile all weekend, and it feels warm, like getting into a nice warm bed on a cold winter’s day.

As the bus drives away, Daisy presses her face up against the window and waves at Phil, Elena, Jemma and Melinda, standing in the carpark. They wave back, even Melinda. They quickly disappear from sight, and Daisy knows that she’s going to miss them awfully.

“Daisy.” Mr Thomas’ gruff voice startles her and she looks up. He motions for her to come to the front of the bus, which she does. “Punching people is unacceptable.”

“She called me a dog and hit me, so I defended myself with reasonable force!” Daisy defends, pointing to Joelle, sitting across from Mr Thomas nursing a black eye with an ice pack.

“Is that true, Joelle?” Joelle nodded, scowling at Daisy. “Why?”

“Asians are dogs,” Joelle mutters.

“That is enough!” Mr Thomas snaps. “I’ll have lengthy discussions with both of you later.”

The conversation he had with them later was indeed lengthy.

* * *

 

A few months later, Daisy is sitting on the swings, just enjoying the wind through her hair. Joelle and her crew hadn’t bothered her since camp; last Daisy had heard, Joelle had been moved to an orphanage in Detroit. Without Joelle, the gang of bullies had essentially fallen apart, and the girls had taken up other hobbies, one including the braiding of string and ropes.

She highly suspected that Mr Thomas had something to do with the lack of Joelle around the place, although she dared not question it – she was just grateful to not be a victim of bullying anymore.

“Daisy!” Mr Thomas shouts from the door. Daisy jumps off the swing and rolls to catch herself and then runs to Mr Thomas.

“Yes, Mr Thomas?”

“Pack your things, then come to my office with your belongings.” His eyes are sparkling, something that only happens when there’s good news or a happy occasion. Daisy begins to feel giddy, wondering what could be happening to her that makes him so happy.

She runs up to her room and gathers up her belongings before running down to his office. Right before she goes in she stops and straightens up, taking a deep breath. She and the other orphans have been told time and time again that his office is where the members of the public come into when they visit, and so they must always be on their Very Best Behaviour when they went in.

Daisy pushes the door open and steps in. Her eyes widen at the sight before her. It’s Melinda, at the bench, signing some stuff.

“Melinda?”

Melinda turns her head, and smiles. Daisy decides that Melinda’s smile is her new favourite thing.

“Hey, Daisy. Just hold on a tick while I finish this.”

“What’s going on, Mr T?” Daisy asks quietly to Mr Thomas standing next to her.

“You’re getting adopted.”

Daisy can hardly believe her ears. “Adopted?”

Mr Thomas nods and Daisy feels as if her heart is soaring inside her chest. She drops her bag and runs up to Melinda, who bends down just in time to catch her. Daisy throws her arms around her new mother and holds tight.

“Are you gonna be my mom forever?” she asks after a long moment.

“Even after.”

No one’s ever been her mom forever, and it feels so amazing knowing that someone will be is nearly enough to make her cry.

“Is there anyone you want to say goodbye to?” Melinda asks and Daisy thinks for a moment and nods.

“Just one person.” Melinda motions for her to go, but instead of scurrying off, Daisy turns to Mr Thomas.

“Thanks for looking after me, Mr T.”

“It was my pleasure, Daisy. I hope your new family is everything you hope it will be.”

“It will be,” Daisy says with confidence. She doesn’t know how, but she just knows that Melinda, Phi, Jemma and Elena are the perfect family for her. She turns ad leaves with Melinda. As they walk out, Daisy grins up at Melinda.

“I knew you wouldn’t forget about me.”

Melinda smiles back down at her. “Warriors aren’t easily forgotten.”


End file.
